The field of the invention is plumbing fixtures and the invention relates more particularly to toilets and still more particularly, to toilets useful when sea water is used in place of fresh water to flush the toilet.
Stainless steel toilets have been used for many years and are particularly adaptable for use in prisons. An example of a stainless steel toilet is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,181.
Attempts to use stainless steel toilets utilizing sea water as the flushing medium have in the past been unsuccessful. In spite of the development and use of more corrosion resistant stainless steel, sea water still brought about corrosion at the weld lines and all known efforts to produce a corrosion-free toilet for use with sea water to date have fallen short.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a stainless steel toilet which can operate utilizing sea water as the flushing medium without exhibiting significant corrosion.
The present invention is for a stainless steel toilet resistant to sea water. The toilet comprises a toilet bowl portion having an oval upper ring, sidewalls extending downwardly from the upper ring to a trap outlet ring. A rim member has an oval lower ring of the same size and shape as the oval upper ring of the toilet bowl. The rim member extends upwardly and then inwardly to a seat rest portion, which in turn, extends inwardly and downwardly to an inner terminus edge. The rim member is fabricated from stainless steel and the upper ring of the toilet bowl portion is butt-welded to the oval lower ring of the rim member along a butt-weld line. A P-trap, having an upper ring having the same size and shape as the trap outlet ring of the toilet bowl portion, is fabricated from stainless steel and butt-welded to the trap outlet ring along a butt-weld ring. A flush ring assembly is supported below the rim member and covered by the rim member. The flush ring assembly is fabricated from a small conduit provided with a plurality of water outlet passageways aimed to direct a plurality of water flushing streams against the inner surface of the toilet bowl portion.
The butt-welding is carried out with an argon gas flow maintained on an inner surface of a weld line during the welding step. A process for fabricating the stainless steel toilet is also set forth.